KARACHI, Aug 5 The UN inquiry commission set up to determine the circumstances leading to the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto intends to contact former president Gen Pervez Musharraf and other people who were in power at the time of the incident.

This was stated by Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit during a meeting with journalists at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday. He said he did not know if the commission had already approached Gen Musharraf in London.

“Only the commission can explain whether it wants to have a session with Musharraf or something else. I am not aware of it because the commission is not under any obligation to consult us on each and every matter.”

However, Mr Basit said that the commission would be facilitated if it wanted to contact anyone in the present government.

In reply to a question about relations with India, he said there was a need for shifting the paradigm from conflict to cooperation and urged India to resume the stalled dialogue to resolve all contentious issues, including the Kashmir dispute. “Until the Kashmir issue is resolved there cannot be a lasting peace in the region.”

Mr Basit said that efforts were being made to arrange a meeting between foreign secretaries of the two countries before a meeting of the foreign ministers in September in New York.

Answering a question about the progress in the Mumbai probe, he said that authorities had arrested some people and the two countries had shared information with each other.